Even on a good day Minnesota Twins are maddening

Ron Gardenhire is tired. Tired of the mental errors, tired ofthe wasted at-bats, the walks, the errors, of not knowing when hisplayers will be available...everything that has come to define the Twins' miserable 2011 season."We have to get it done," he said after his team's fifthstraight loss. "Get. It,arado rmt. Flipping. Done."So woebegone have the Twins become that even when they didget it done Wednesday, they still couldn't get it done. Jason Kubelatoned for a multitude of sins with a go-ahead, three-run homer inthe seventh, and Matt Tolbert helped tie it in the eighth with adouble, yet the Twins lost 9-7 in front of abewildered 38,938.The booing was diffident and the cheering restrained as Twins fans seemed finally to acceptthe fact that their team is broken, loser of five straight and11-game laggard to Central Division-leading Cleveland after thelatest meltdown."It's only May, and there's still 4-1/2 months left, but wecan't dig ourselves too much of a hole," right fielder MichaelCuddyer said. "There's definitely a sense of urgency, without adoubt. But it's not just a sense of urgency to win, it's a sense ofurgency to play better."We have to do that before we can worry about winning, andthat's all of us, myself included."Still without starters Joe Mauer (leg weakness), TsuyoshiNishioka (broken leg), Jim Thome (muscle strain) and Delmon Young(muscle strain), Minnesota started three position players whoopened the season at Class AAA Rochester, plus Tolbert, who madethe squad as the utility infielder,aion RMT.The Twins got some big at-bats againstthe Tigers, rallying from 5-2 and 7-6 deficits, but it wasn't crispbaseball by a long shot.Starter Scott Baker walked five and threw 99 pitches in 4-1/2innings, and Twins pitchers combined for eightwalks. In the second inning, Danny Valencia failed to move JustinMorneau, after a leadoff double, to third. In the seventh, DenardSpan advanced to third on Luke Hughes' double off the scoreboard inright-center - from second base.Morneau and Span wound up scoring, but that didn't mitigate themanager's ire."That's not good enough. That's not how we play," Gardenhiresaid. "They say, 'Well, I'm trying.' 'OK, you're trying; get itdone.' "The Twins have lost 8 of 12 series thisseason, and been swept three times. They're 11 games below .500 forthe first time since finishing 69-93 in 2000, Tom Kelly'spenultimate season as manager.Hughes, one of six rookies on the active roster, said being newto the majors is not an excuse."Hey, we've been playing baseball long enough," he said. "Iguess some guys are learning, but the thing is, we've played longenough. We've all played the game long enough, and we have to goout there and do it - just play the game the way it should beplayed."They're here mostly because of injuries, and that appears to bewearing on the manager as well. Asked if the Twins simply need to tread wateruntil the starters come back, he said: "No, we're just trying towin ballgames. I don't know about treading water. You call itwhatever you want; we're at where we're at right now."Young, who hasn't played since April 18, is scheduled to returnby Friday, but no one seems to know when Thome, Nishioka or JasonRepko (hamstring) will return from rehabbing in Fort Myers, Fla.And Mauer,ドラクエ10 RMT, battling leg weakness since the first week of theseason, is on the most nebulous of schedules."You can tread water," Gardenhire said, "but you have to knowwhen guys are coming back. There are a lot of question marks stillon how long, so I can't worry about it right now. I have to playwhat I have."And what the Twins have right now clearly isn'tgood enough.